THE SECOND CRISIS IN CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE
19 -- THE PERFECTION OF THE SANCTIFIED
"The God of all grace, who has called us unto His
eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you
perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you." (I. Peter 5:10,)
Whatever the perfection of suffering may be, it evidently
does not relate to the purifying of the heart, or the perfecting in holiness,
-- for Christ was absolutely pure, and perfect in holiness before He suffered,
and yet we read, "It became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are
all things, in bringing many sons unto glory; to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings." (Heb. 2:10,) Here is the error of
the Romanist, in supposing that by doing penance and torturing his body he may
in some way merit the favor of God and thus purify his heart and obtain
holiness.
No amount of physical torture can merit the favor of God,
nor purify the heart, for we are told that "though I give my body to be
burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing," No amount of
physical suffering can eliminate sin from the soul.
The ministry of suffering is for the perfecting of those who
are cleansed from all sin and perfected in love, Paradoxical as it may seem,
they who are in the enjoyment of Christian perfection still have need of being
made perfect. Christ surely was perfect in holiness and yet afterward, as the
captain of salvation, was made "perfect through sufferings," Through
His suffering He was made "perfect as a completed sacrifice, legal and
official, not moral, perfection is meant." -- Calvin. The failure to
understand the place and meaning of suffering has wrought disaster in many
lines, the old heathen philosophy that adversity and suffering is the evidence
of divine displeasure and wrath, is one of Satan's devices to discourage and
destroy souls. He will suggest, "If God loved you, and if He were pleased
with you, why should He permit you to be thus afflicted?" As in the case
of the man who was born blind, even "disciples" inquire,
"Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the
works of God should be made manifest in him." Jesus here clearly indicates
that what seemed to be this man's misfortune was in no sense the result of sin,
nor of the divine displeasure. Some of the holiest of men and women that have
ever lived upon the earth have been the greatest sufferers, and met with what
seemed to be the greatest misfortunes. Many need to learn, that, as in the case
of Lazarus, Jesus said, "This sickness is for the glory of God, that the
Son of God might be glorified thereby." God may be as certainly glorified
in our sickness as in our health, if by patience, submission and faith we wait
before Him.
A successful sailor must learn to make use of a headwind.
The apostle Paul said, "We glory in tribulation also: knowing that
tribulation worketh --;" and again He said, "I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for
Christ's sake." Not that he was insensible to the pain, nor that he
practiced Christian Science and tried to ignore the fact of suffering; but he
had learned that his weakness and need was simply the occasion and opportunity
for the larger manifestations of divine grace and power. Great trials simply
make way for great grace. Where the need is only five pounds, the Lord will not
send five hundred pounds, He would rather have great trials and abundant grace,
than no trials and a meager supply of grace. Trials are blessings in disguise,
in that they develop the iron graces of true Christian character; they prove
the measure of our moral strength and heart loyalty to God.
An infant may be perfect as an infant, in that it is perfectly
formed and has all that pertains to the perfection of an infantile state; but
in order to reach the perfection of manhood it requires the development of
those faculties and powers that it now possesses. As there is an infantile
state in the experience of regeneration, so in like manner there is an
infantile state in the experience of Christian perfection. Perfect purity is
not maturity. Though we may not be made more pure, and may in the fullest sense
enjoy Christian perfection, we yet have need of a perfecting of our Christian
character in order to reach a symmetrical, full orbed, thoroughly tested
sainthood. "Till we all come * * * Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ."
(Eph. 4:13.)
Perfect obedience, perfect submission, perfect patience,
perfect sympathy, perfect faith are fruits of the spirit that can only be fully
developed and perfected in the furnace of affliction and suffering. We read of
Jesus, "Though He were a son, yet learned He obedience by the things which
He suffered." (Heb. 5:8.) He learned how to fully sympathize with us in
temptation, and now is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities, in
that He Himself hath suffered being tempted," and "was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
So we read that patience is perfected by suffering:
"Tribulation worketh patience." (Rom, 5:3.) "Knowing this, that
the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect
work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."
(Jas. 1:3, 4.)
The suffering referred to is not self inflicted, but the
legitimate result of heart-loyalty and faithful service on the battlefield,
"If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." (11. Tim. 2:12.)
